Saturday, March 4, 2023

Burst Pipe Adventure - Day 25

This morning, I woke up at around 0600 (Still at the WRJ Holiday Inn Express) and saw that Mollie had texted, requesting a wake-up call (she was getting on a bus, bound for NoVA).  I called her and we talked briefly.  After that, I got ready and went down to eat breakfast in the hotel lobby (0645).  The room was VERY crowded with kids again.  We got lots of snow overnight but it wasn't done!  I went back to my room and spent the morning finishing up my reservations for the early April backpacking trip in the Smokies.  Also set up Zoom call for me and my daughters (for later in the day) and then spent more time reading and doing some travel planning for NZ-Australia.  Ate lunch in the room.  After waiting until 1245 for the snow to stop falling (I figured out that we got at least six inches during the last 24 hours), I was itching to get back out on the trails at Eastman Cross Country Center!  Their website reported that the whole system was groomed (still no tracks though).  When I arrived (1315), I found at least three new inches had covered over the trails.  This, along with the fact that the snow was really sticky, began an epic afternoon of trail breaking, falling and exploring.  Actually, I’m pretty proud of myself because I stayed out on the trails for three whole hours (5ish miles, my longest session ever), made a complete circuit of all the trails except for two black diamond routes (first time on several of the harder ones), only removed my skis once (for a road crossing) and persisted through some tough ice/snowball buildup in the yellow “skin” area on the bottom of my skis.  Encountered only seven other people (none on “the back nine” of the system - everyone else complained of the same issues I had.  Kept my arms and legs moving almost continuously and accepted all the terrain as it came (a lesson from my Lake Placid weekend).  Felt very good when I finished at 1620! Drove back to my hotel (arrived at 1650) and had just enough time to take a shower before my Zoom call with the girls (1700 to 1830).  Afterwards, I ate a light dinner, read and watched movies until bed time (2200).  Winter isn’t done yet and neither am I!